Nodar Artist Residency Programme for 2009
Transcription
Nodar Artist Residency Programme for 2009
Nodar Artist Residency Programme for 2009 (São Pedro do Sul, Portugal) A Co-production of: www.binauralmedia.org Nodar Artist Residency Center is located in a rural mountain community of Portugal (Nodar, S. Pedro do Sul) and organizes and produces multidisciplinary artistic projects (mainly in the areas of sound, visual and intermedia arts) from both local and international artists, followed by public presentations in the region. During their stay, the resident artists are encouraged to establish interactions with the place, its inhabitants, geographic space and social memory. The residencies are held in a typical rural house with a studio equipped with audiovisual equipments and tools. Since March 2006, over 50 international artists developed projects at Nodar Artist Residency Center in close connection with the local communities. Issues such as life and death, geography, topography, myths and traditions, crafts, leisure activities, agriculture and shepherding, and consumption habits were used as a thematic background for many of the art pieces created. Exhibitions, concerts, workshops, artist talks, have been organized in the region with growing audience and visibility. Nodar Artist Residency Center schedules several art residencies modules throughout the year (from spring to autumn), in order to stimulate a collaborative environment between artists from different backgrounds and locations. During the residencies, several parallel activities, such as artist talks and workshops (namely for the local youth), are programmed. On the last day of each residency, a public session is organized where the several art projects are presented and commented. Artists, students and others are invited to visit Nodar during the residencies, to follow the projects’ development and to meet the resident artists. Calendar and Resident Artists for 2009: 15 March | 4 April 2009 Joana Nascimento (Portugal) Peeter Laurits (Estonia) Rui Silveira (Porutgal) Svetlana Bogomolova (Estonia) 3 May | 23 May 2009 Jason Kahn (USA) Melanie Velarde (Australia) Satoshi Morita (Japan) 27 June | 18 July 2009 Ben Owen (USA) Marta Bernardes & Ignacio Martínez (Portugal/Spain) Sérgio Bonilha & Luciana Ohira (Brazil) Sérgio Cruz (Portugal) 1 Setember | 21 Setember 2009 Manuela Barile (Italy) Duncan Whitley (England) 10 October | 31 October 2009 Anna Hints (Estonia) Jez riley French (England) Nigel Brown & Alice Hui-Sheng Chang (Australia / Taiwan) Joana Nascimento | Portugal Residency Period: 15 March - 4 April 2009 Art Project: “SimLugares” | Visual Arts I am very much interested in issues related to identity, representation and landscape. On this project my focus turns to the geographical and territorial spaces where the transformation is evident through the presence of a deactivated construction / infrastructure (which original function is no longer present). Trying to resist Marc Augé’s interpretation of non-places, I am more interested in a concept of commonplace associated with a psycho geographic recognition of a place. Following Henri Léfebvre’s (a Marxist thinker) words, the activation of a place is made through its own dynamics and the meaning of a specific space is less related to its construction than with the uses that it allows. In Nodar the representation of the place will be made using different resources and in two distinct phases: Firstly, a mapping of the place through the construction of conceptual-cognitive maps; interviews to the population about the memories they keep about the place; Audio, video and photographic documentation. Secondly, the purpose will be to create a fiction with the gathered / produced elements having present a methodology of walking. Recognizing a place through the act of walking has a somewhat performative aspect that seeks to promote a possible dialogue with a dormant place by document it. Artistic Biography Joana Nascimento is a Portuguese visual artist. She holds a BSc in Fine Arts – Sculpture by the Fine Arts Faculty of Oporto, where she recently started a Master in Art and Design for the Public Space and had a merit scholarship granted. Peeter Laurits | Estonia Residency Period: 15 March - 4 April 2009 Art Project: “City of God“ | Photography and Video Many cities are devoted to gods and goddesses. Although thus linked with heavenly realms cities dwell on earth. They grow slowly like dumps. What deposits at the top sinks downward and decomposes at the bottom. Cities have an enormous centrifugal force. They produce very little from inside, instead, they drive it in from elsewhere. In order to keep going, they demand a fluent flow of external income – food, water, energy, all kinds of supplies and resources come from somewhere else. Even people flow in from around, as the birthrate in cities usually drops. The result is unbalance. Many modern cities are surrounded with broadening bands of wasteland. As the unbalance gets more and more intense, the city too, starts eroding. I intend to model the centrifugal drives of a city in a heap of sand. I shall sculpt sand in a form of a city (Alfama is a model I bear in my mind). I coat it with syrup and wait for the insects to come for it and get stuck. Then I document their city life with photo and video. Artistic Biography: Peeter Laurits (1962) is an Estonian visual artist whose work is developed around photography. He carried his studies in the cities of Tallinn, Tartu, San Petersburg and New York. He has been exhibiting his work internationally since 1989. He was co-founder of the art collectives DeStudio and Open Valley Studio. Some of Peeter Laurit’s works are part of collections such as the Estonian Art Museum, the Tartu Art Museum, KIASMA, the Norton Dodge collection and many other private and public collections. Presently he lives in a forest located on the south of Estonia, by the Kütiorg valley. http://web.me.com/peeter.laurits Rui Silveira | Portugal Residency Period: 15 March - 4 April 2009 Art Project: Without Title | Video and Sound Art Presently I am preparing a documentary using footage made in Labé, Guinea-Conakry, about the building of a house using the local resources, techniques and man force, in an urban and chaotic environment of a society that reveals a strong identity. In an initial phase, where I didn’t start the editing of that footage, I want with this residency In Nodar to establish an experimental analogy that can allow me to reflect and to explore different audiovisual languages. For that purpose and during three weeks, I propose myself to document Nodar’s traditional building techniques and resources; to capture the social ambience that contextualizes them; to edit a series of short video pieces exploring different sound approaches for the same material and concluding with a video projection or installation for the local community, making them part of my vision of their own architectonic and social identity, particularly defined through sound explorations. Artistic Biography Rui Silveira was born in Campo Maior in 1983 and presently lives in Lisbon. He holds a BSc in Communication Design by the Fine Arts Faculty of Lisbon and even though his formative years have been devoted to graphic design, he always tried to focus his work towards an audiovisual practice. The possible relationships between sound and image (video or photography) have captured his interesting since the beginning. He participated with his own pieces in the Collision Festival (London) and in the Microfilm Festival (Lisbon). http://www.ruisilveira.com Svetlana Bogomolova | Russia, Estonia Residency Period: 15 March - 4 April 2009 Art Project: “Terrain” | Photography, Video, Performance, Installation, Graphic Design and Multimedia I have always been attracted by the global idea of ecology: how do organisms and materials co-exist and how do they influence each other. In Nodar I would collect pieces of nature - like grains of soil, leaves - and pieces of people - like hair, saliva, dirt from people's hands - and make them glow literary to see, what emerges from there. I use biological substrate for growing fungi (or simply mold) in special dishes. I put the collected material onto the substrate - whether soil or saliva - close the cup of the dish and wait to see what mold starts to grow there. Later, when the pictures of grown fungi are made, I develop then further: when growing mold forms elaborated patterns, I would try to capture and develop those patterns further. When I develop these patterns graphically, I make the original material "grow" even further. My ambition is to develop patterns to an extent, when they become regular and similar to traditional national patters of textile and clothes. "Terrain" is a study of the place, by going deep into it, by melting into it and growing with it. Artistic Biography Born in 1981 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Currently live in Tartu, Estonia. She is graduated in media and publicity by the Tartu Art College. She Works in the areas of photography, video, performance, installation, graphic design and multimedia. She is a member of MoKS - Center for Art and Social Practice and has been participating in several exhibitions, screenings, performances, audio and video installations. She also works in the areas of video art, as a VJ and as a graphic designer. http://art.tartu.ee/~sveeta Jason Kahn | USA, Switzerland Residency Period: 3 - 23 May 2009 Art Project: “Any Way the Wind Blows” | Sound Installation “Any Way the Wind Blows” is an installation and recording project in interaction with the natural environment. Through the use of amplified steel wires strung between trees, and self-made piezo microphones and multi-speaker systems driven by portable amplifiers I will amplify the sound of wind blowing, vibrating the branches and leaves of trees, bushes, grass; and re introduce these sounds in the form of a sonic mirror back into the environment. I will then make recordings of these self-interacting environments, which I will use later for a composition, as well as to document the project. These sites will also be documented by photos and text, providing at the end of the project a comprehensive documentation of the work process and the work itself. On a conceptual level these installations address the notion of art's place as something existing in the eye of the beholder: as in the old saying, “if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, did it fall?” At the end of my residency I would like to present an installation for public viewing, both as a means of revealing my working method and to give people a chance to hear an environment sonically circling back on itself. Artistic Biography: Jason Kahn’s work includes sound installation, performance and composition. He was born in New York in 1960, grew up in Los Angeles and relocated to Europe in 1990. He currently lives in Zurich. He has given concerts and exhibited sound installations throughout Europe, North and South America, Japan, México, Korea, Israel, Turkey, Russia, Lebanon, Egypt, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia. Kahn performs both solo and in collaborations, using percussion, analog synthesizer or computer in different combinations. For larger groups of directed improvisation he has devised a system of graphical scores. Kahn creates his sound installations for specific spaces. The focus of these primarily non-visual works lies in the perception of a space through sound. In 1997 Kahn founded the independent CD label "Cut," producing to date twenty-five CD's, both of Kahn's own work and other artists. http://jasonkahn.net Melanie Velarde | Australia, Germany Residency Period: 3 - 23 May 2009 Art Project: Without Title | Sound Art In Nodar I wish to research, develop and produce physical, visual and online compositional structures. I want to create a platform in form of a visual display, an installation or a concert, that allows an aleatorical process in acoustic communication across geographic, physical and emotional boarders. Acousmatic works, field recordings and electro acoustic sound works will be generated and sourced from the surrounding area to participate in one overall constantly modulating composition and "hoerspiel". The idea is to create a framework which will allow a musical exchange and new combinations of field recordings, acoustic compositions and experimental sound works. I am particularly interested in a compositional approach that will be characterized by the participating sound's location and heritage, bringing time and place as modulating elements into the framework. The proposed project seeks to bring together people, places, nature, textures, phonographers and listeners, to actively participate and experience a sonic and subjective journey that shall never be the same twice. I would like to create an artwork that not only holds reference to locations and time frames but also to private and emotional experiences. My intent is to produce a stage much like a musical garden or landscape that allows for musical and sonic cross cultural dissemination. Artistic Biography: Melanie Velarde is an Australian sound artist currently living in Berlin. She received a Master in New Media Art (Sound Studies) from RMIT, Melbourne Australia in 2001. She has been using mainly field recordings to produce audio/sensual textures that can be experienced within a defined space, usually in form of sound and video installations as well as performance. Her work has been presented in galleries and festivals throughout Australia, China, Denmark, Germany, etc. as well as in art radio broadcasts. http://www.melanievelarde.com Satoshi Morita | Japan, Germany Residency Dates: 3 - 23 May 2009 Art Project: “Klanghelm / Sonic Helmet”| Sound Art Our perspective in everyday life is based upon in general the “eye level” and the “ear level”. The auditory perception determines our sense of the depth and size of a space. According to our size of body and our position in a space, our spatial perception differs. Sound also evokes the tactile aspect of the source of the sound and the multi-sensorial perception of the recipient. My artistic practice relates to two issues in particular: firstly the development of listening circumstances by means of installation or sonic object and secondly archiving and composing the sonic environment by special multi-channel recording method. This sound material forms a basic for the composition for the installation or sonic object. One of the sonic object, which I plan to use for the project in Nodar, is '”Klanghelm / Sonic Helmet”. It provides unique sonic experience through auditory and tactile perception with three audio-channels. I will create a sonic composition with recorded materials in Nodar. In addition, the project Klanghelm is also open to collaborate with other artist, musicians or sound designers using their composition, when they are interested in and it fits to the whole context of the project. Artistic Biography: Satoshi Morita is a Japanese sound artist currently living in Berlin. He holds a graduation in Sound Studies by the Arts University of Berlin. He has been presenting his many sound installations in galleries, museums and unconventional spaces throughout Austria, England and several places in Germany. Satoshi Morita also creates radio pieces that have been broadcasted in several radio art programs (WDR3, Deutchlandradio Kultur, etc.). He was granted an honorary mention at Prix Ars Electronica 2008. http://www.sonicspacelabs.com Ben Owen | EUA Residency Period: 27 June - 18 July 2009 Art Project: “Score Based Performance” and “Listening Stations Nodar” | Sound Art, Video and Performance During my residency in Nodar there are two projects I would like to develop: “Score Based Performance” - There is an ongoing interest as an organizer and performer to allow events to happen in non-traditional spaces to fully engage with the uncontrolled sonic environment. This environment being John Cage's “Silence”, is an important part of our understanding and participation in sound practices. While at Nodar, I would like to present an instruction-based score for solo and collaborative performance. The score will be created on several factors; the landscape of Nodar, the number of possible participants, and the sonic qualities of the space. The general idea is to spread several people through an area of different elevations and sonic ambiance to perform an outdoor piece of music. “Listening Stations Nodar” - Using piezo contact microphones and geophones in temporary listening stations around the environment of Nodar, I plan to extend my recording locations to temporary stations where people are welcome to explore the sounds of the geography of Nodar. These stations are designed for community interaction as well as participants of the residency program to hear a different version of the environment they are inhabiting or visiting. Artistic Biography: Ben Owen is an American sound artist. He graduated in Art History and BFA Studio Art (sculpture and printmaking) Virginia Commonwealth University. Ben Owen is an investigator, explorer and illustrator of the physical properties of the world we inhabit. His work across multiple media, including sound, video and, importantly, stone litho printmaking, is motivated by a desire to more deeply understand the inner life and character of the materials he Works with, rather than an impulse to control or implement them. Ben's current work includes improvised and graphic score based performance, audio and video collaborations. He has been involved in a considerable number of performances in museums, festivals and galleries in cities like New York, California, Tokyo and Berlin. http://benowen.org/ Marta Bernardes & Ignacio Martinez | Portugal, Spain Residency Period: 27 June - 18 July 2009 Art Project: “Phonetic fauna - Animal voice” | Sculpture, Performance, Audio and Video Art The human and the animal voice, their possible meeting or maladjustment, the particularities of their coexistence amongst the people of Nodar, are the main axis for the project, either on the guidelines for the treatment of the audio-visual-performative material (Marta Bernardes) and for the treatment of objects that will focus on the building of sculptural-sonic devices (or instruments) formally inspired on the local materials and fauna: their anatomy, their shapes, the associated human instruments (Ignacio Martinez). Despite the well-defined character of both the wishes and interests that underlie this project, its possible concretizations are totally open as they very much depend on the experience of the place. Bearing in mind the fact that we speak about voices, the heritage of experimental poetry, either sound or visual, is extremely important, because is difficult to forget the long-standing links between the human voice and the writing. Artistic Biography: Marta Bernardes is a Portuguese artist based in Spain who works in the areas of performance and audiovisual arts. She holds a Master Degree in Psychoanalysis and Philosophy of Culture by the Philosophy Faculty of Madrid. She has been attending workshops in Spain, Portugal, Netherlands and Belgium and has presented performances in several Portuguese venues. Ignacio Martinez is a Spanish musician and sculptor. He holds a degree in Fine Arts by the Complutense University of Madrid and has been presenting several musical and theatrical projects throughout Spain. Luciana Ohira & Sergio Bonilha | Brazil Residency Period: 27 June - 18 July 2009 Art Project: “Autonomous Sound Machines” | Sound Art, Sculpture, Installation Solar energy, air movement and magnetic energy will power the projects included in our proposal. Their main aspect consists in a discreet interaction with the landscape’s sound components, seeking new insights on what is already present in the landscape. Therefore, three different devices, each one with its own particularities, could inhabit the external areas of Nodar; near plants, water sources and paths, occasionally meeting the passers-by. We could not think of a better way to bring these “low-tech” beings to life, contrary to the incessant urban agitation. Outside Nodar, “Olvido”, De-Heraclitan Machine” and “Phyofit” would be engulfed by noise, run over by the urban crowd. Artistic Biography: Luciana Ohira (1983) and Sergio Bonilha (1976) come from São Paulo and they both hold a degree in Visual Arts by the São Paulo University. They presently attend a Master in Visual Poetics on the same university. They have been presenting their sound installation works in Brasil, Spain, USA and China. Sérgio Cruz | Portugal, England Residency Period: 27 June - 18 July 2009 Art Project: Without Title | Video and Performance My art practice has always been an intuitive and automatic response driven by personal events, thoughts and feelings, integrated in to my daily routine. In Nodar I am interested in to create a disturbing single screen moving image artwork in collaboration with local communities about animals life and death in rural areas. I grew up in the Portuguese countryside. Animals are an important feature in daily life. My father kept a small farm and still does. He breeds animals for the family to eat. When growing up, I would assist my father in many aspects of running the farm, which would include feeding, milking, working the land with the animals and eventually, when the time came, assist in the killing of the animal. It would be really natural for me to take care of the animals on a daily basis and this would result in me feeling very "close" with them. However, I had to remember the purpose of the farm so when the time came, I would not naively be upset. Since living in the city and especially London, I started to see other attitudes to animals- the one that sees them as pets. I would like to spend time with country folk on a daily basis, questioning them about their attitude to animals and how they treat them. I would show the conditions they are kept in and the way the animals are regarded by the family. When it is time for one to be killed to eat, I would ask to be shown the method they would use. Artistic Biography: Sérgio Cruz is an independent artist/filmmaker, sound designer and editor. He was born in Vila Nova de Famalicão (Portugal) and holds a degree in Sound and Image by the Arts School of the Oporto Catholic University. In 2005 he moved to London where he took the MA Fine Arts at Central Saint Martins and Arts in Dance for the Screen at London Contemporary Dance School. Since 2004 he has been working as a video creator and sound designer for dance pieces, installations and feature films, having directed seven works of his own. He also has worked as choreographer, dancer and VJ. Sérgio Cruz received several prizes such as the New Creators prize granted by the Clube de Artes e Ideias, the New Talent FNAC prize at the IndieLisboa festival, the best short movie at Tom de Vídeo 06 festival and the Red Mansion Art Prize. Manuela Barile | Italy, Portugal Residency Period: 1 - 21 September 2009 Art Project: “Locus in Quo” | Video, Sound Art, Vocal Performance Locus in quo - which means "The place where something happens" - is the general title I gave to a body of works based on a unique theme: the sense of places. The project consists of two video installations + a series of photographs and objects (“Pesa” and “Cá”), a sound installation/performance (Birdsoundcage) and a concert/performance (“Oikos”). During the residency in Nodar I will develop two of the project’s modules: “Cá” and “Birdsoundcage”. In “Cá” the subject of my research are the abandoned villages in the area of the Gralheira mountains (near Nodar), places built centuries ago and that were recently abandoned. My action will propose a way of taking back these places and make them born again, not physically but in the memory and in the consciousness both of those who lived, crossed, dreamed, forgot them, and of those others who don’t know about their existence, who ignore and don’t give them any interest. “Cá” intends to trace the signs of life and the memory in places perceived without any utility. "Birdsoundcage" is a birdcage created through sound in an empty and aseptic room. Inside of it, there is a body lying on the ground, completely bandaged who makes a cage made by prostheses in order to survive. The prostheses are obtained attaching twigs of wood on the lower and upper limbs using white bandages. In Nodar I will be helped by Duncan Whitley to conceive a multichannel sound composition. Artistic Biography: Manuela Barile is an Italian vocal researcher and interdisciplinary performer living in Portugal since 2006. Her artistic research is based on a project-oriented work that combines vocal sounds with different media (field recording, video, photography, installations, performance, improvisation, concert-performance, writing). In June 2006 she participated with Pino Pipoli at “Fresco Bosco” a Contemporary Art event curated by Achille Bonito Oliva in Italy. Her vocal compositions were included in various films, documentaries and video art projects (Annamaria Ippolito, Patricia Leal, Xaquin Rosales, etc.) and dance choreographies (Paula Pinto). In 2007 she started a collaboration with the sound artist Rui Costa, through an intermedia project ‘La Scatola’, conceived as a series of installations and performances. The Portuguese Ministry of Culture funded this project. She also directs a workshop ,“The amplified expression of the body”, where body, voice, performance art, physical-acoustic space and sensors cross together, amplifying their expressive possibilities. http://www.manuelabarile.com Duncan Whitley | England Residency Period: 1 - 21 September 2009 Art Project: “G.D. Parada – Second Half” | Sound Art A sound project centred on a small amateur football club, Grupo Desportivo de Parada, in the town of Parada de Ester (Castro Daire, Portugal). GD Parada is very much a source of local pride, playing in the top tier of Portugal’s regional league structure (Divisão de Honra). The project sets out to explore the significance of GD Parada within the community of Parada de Ester, through detailed soundscape work focused on the team in training and in competition. Recordings at training sessions involve a variety of stereo and multichannel recording techniques to capture the sounds of training drills and exercises. The Project had a first residency in October 2008, which preliminary results were presented as a sound and video installation in GD Parada’s clubhouse, preceding a fierce derby match against local rivals Lamelas. In a second residency, additional sound and video recordings will be made and a final multichannel sound and video installation will be conceived, in order to be presented in contemporary art exhibition spaces. Artistic Biography: Duncan Whitley studied BA Hons Fine Art at Kingston University from 1996 to 1999, where he worked almost exclusively with sound installation. In the following years his work continued with a focus on site-specific interventions, producing work in both sanctioned art spaces and ‘non-art spaces’ (from domestic environments, to derelict flats, to Church of England churches). From 2004 his practice shifted towards stereo and multichannel ‘field recording’, developing a significant archive of project-specific phonographic studies. His sound recording work documents the ritual of social events: the highly formalised Semana Santa processions in Seville; football spectatorship across different tiers of the British football league; the controlled demolition of high-rise flats in cities around England and Scotland. http://www.shotgunsounds.com Anna Hints | Estonia Residency Period: 10 - 31 October 2009 Art Project: Without Title | Photography, Performance, Installation The contact with the other. The distance and the intimacy. The fear and desire to be close to the other. The change of context and the change of the meaning through it. Lost in translation effect. Is it possible to really reach the other without the part being lost through translation process of our prejudices, fears, desires, hopes etc.? Singing old traditional songs together with the goats of the Nodar area and see what reaction could it provoke. Telling out things that “are not supposed to be told“ (because they are too embarrassing, too opening oneself) to the goats. Singing the Estonian national hymn, national songs, telling about Estonian history events and national symbols to the goats. Singing old Estonian songs with the local people. Singing intermittently with a local person each other’s culture songs. (If there is a local who has the tradition of singing). Artistic Biography: Anna Hints is an Estonian artist working in the areas of photography, performance, installation, sound art, folk and experimental singing. She studied Estonian and Comparative Literature and Folklore at University of Tartu and Photography at Arts University of Tartu. Since 2005 she has presented her work in festivals, galleries and museums in Russia, México and several Estonian venues. Jez riley French | England Residency Period: 10 - 31 de October 2009 Art Project: Without Title | Sound Art, Photography My work currently focuses on the sonic architecture, audible silence and the overlooked visual elements of spaces, structures and environments. In performance or exhibition I use the term 'intuitive composition' - a place between improvisation and the emergence of a musical are within the work. A residency in Nodar would not only provide me with the opportunity to make in-depth recordings of the residency buildings and surrounding environment but also to consider new methods of finding visual maps for sound capture. Having researched Nodar I find myself drawn to its setting. My approach is always based on an intuitive response and in the case of this residency I have been struck by the placement of the building within the village community and the atmosphere that exists there. My intention would be to use my time in Nodar to explore the sonic architecture and audible silence of structures and the sounds of their surroundings via extended field recording techniques and visually using my photographic methods. Of particular interest to me are the ways in which field recording can move beyond social / environmental documentation and, whilst retaining its essential character, form an artistic impression in relation to the emotive and playful response of both artist and audience. My explorations would result in a series of intuitive compositions, live intuitive / improvised performances and a set of photographic images. Should the resulting work prove to be coherent and artistically complete enough I would like then to explore the possibility of issuing a limited run high-quality CDr, featuring the compositions along with some of the images forming the sleeve artwork for residents and the general public to access. Artistic Biography: Jeremy Riley (a.k.a. Jez riley French) was born & lives in East Yorkshire, UK. A selfeducated musician / composer & visual artist, his audio work has explored elements of improvisation and conventional compositional elements. He has had a strong interest in field recording for many years & a large part of his intuitive performance & compositional output involves pieces created using conventional & extended field recording methods. His works have been performed & exhibited widely across Europe including in Austria, Belgium, France, Czech Republic, Scotland, Wales, England etc. Jez also lectures on field recording & compositional arcs, runs the 'engraved glass' label & curates various events including the 'seeds & bridges' concert series in Hull, UK. http://jezrileyfrench.blogspot.com/ Alice Hui-Sheng Chang & Nigel Brown | Taiwan, Australia Residency Period: 10 - 31 October 2009 Artistic Project: Without Title | Sound Art and Vocal Performance For the first weeks of the residency, armed with Alice’s voice, Nigel’s accordion and a portable sound recording set-up, we will explore the township and surroundings of Nodar. Upon discovering evocative spaces or sites of acoustic, environmental, or social interest, impromptu sound performances will take place. Sites of interest may include bridges, laneways, forest, rivers, lakes, markets, churches, halls, playgrounds, abandoned buildings and farms. A performance may consist of a very minimal repeated sonic gesture, a simple interaction with a particular echo or found object sung into. The second phase of the project, to occur alongside recording and then more intensively in the final week of the residency, will be studio-based composition. Treating the collected recordings initially as abstract pieces of sound, composition will focus on creating coherent works from disparate sounds and spaces. Violent juxtaposition and rupture will feature alongside subtle blending of spaces, not attempting to find coherence through a faithful portrayal of the daytime activities, but through a new sonic narrative. Separated from the multiplicities of the live moment, the ‘sound object’ is able to form. While straight documentation usually fails to communicate the core of a live event, these compositions will be a new life for the sounds collected during the day, encompassing our experiences, encounters and the sonic and social character of Nodar. This document will be presented at the culmination of the four-week residency as part of an open-public discussion on the project. Artistic Biography: Alice Hui-Sheng Chang (Taiwan) and Nigel Brown (Australia) both hold a Master in Arts by Melbourne’s RMIT University. They create sound in performance and recordings as 12 dog cycle. They pair the breathing limitations of human voice and piano accordion, extending the voice through extreme unconventional technique and the accordion’s acoustic properties through preparations, extended techniques and occasional live electronic manipulation. They already played live in venues in China, Taiwan, Hong-Kong and Australia. http://www.myspace.com/12dogcycle http://www.huishengchang.com Nodar Artist Residency Programme Credits Co-production: Binaural & Associação Cultural de Nodar Artistic Directors: Manuela Barile and Rui Costa Production: Luís Costa (coordinator) and Carina Martins Technical Assistance: Antonio Mainenti Post Production Assistance: Maile Colbert Contacts Centro de Residências Artísticas de Nodar Associação Cultural de Nodar Nodar – Caixa Postal Nº 106 3660-324 S. Martinho das Moitas Portugal Tel: +351 232 468 508 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.nodar.org Binaural – Associação Cultural Alameda Padre Álvaro Proença, Nº 10 – 12ºA 1500-475 Lisboa Portugal Tel: +351 91 895 18 57 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.binauralmedia.org Disclaimer: the photos and drawings on this document were obtained from the artists‘ works / websites and they are used solely to illustrate the enclosed information about the artists.